New Year, Still Running!

It’s a New Year!  We are already a couple of weeks into it, and I haven’t written about it yet!  I have been out enjoying it, so that is my excuse.  Yep, no slacking here.  I have already run TWO races!  All in the same weekend.  What a great way to kick off a new year, and my Boston training!

Unfortunately, the races were in Disney, so that meant my family and I had to go all the way to Florida to enjoy the beautiful sunshine, just so mommy could run around the “most magical place on earth.” I am sure our children will forgive us someday for making them swim in the pool, meet all of their favourite Disney characters, and miss out on a week of school.

There certainly is something Magic about Disney. I must have believed in magic when I signed up for the “Goofy Challenge” (run a half marathon Saturday, and a full marathon Sunday).  I have never been in a race that had a start time of 5:30am. Again, I blame the magic, because it seemed just fine to get up by 3am to join 26, 998 (!) other runners for the half marathon on the Saturday morning.  It was so, so dark.  The hubs joined me for that race, so we huddled together and waited for Mickey Mouse to yell, “Ready, Set, GO!”

It was a great race.  So fun to run with my husband, and so fun to watch people pass by in ridiculous fun costumes.  We opted to take it easy, (especially as I would be waking up the next morning to run the full marathon!) so it was great fun to take in all of the sights (albeit mostly in the darkness).  I haven’t been to Disney World since I was eight years old.  Running down “Main Street USA” in the Magic Kingdom was exactly as I remembered it. Crossing the finish line with my husband was a great feeling!  We had accomplished so much before 7:30am!

Sunday morning was round two.  The big one.  I met my fellow Boston runner, Kiska Colwill at the starting line.  Again, it was cold and dark.  We were so busy chatting when the gun went off, that I forgot to turn on my watch–I spent the first minute of the race (but, it felt like an eternity) trying to figure out how to start it (I guess I am not so tech-savvy under pressure).  The Disney Marathon was great.  Lots of sights, (especially when the sun finally came up) of all of the parks, smells (especially behind Animal Kingdom–ick) and sounds (lots of music and cheering, especially after the park officially opened for the day).

Crossing the finish line of my second race in two days was a great feeling.  Not one that I will feel again any time soon, but a good feeling nonetheless.  I am amazed at how great I felt in the days that followed (could it be the lounging by the pool, key-lime pie, sheer joy of watching my boys enjoy Disney, that distracted me?).  I did have an epic blister on one foot, but now that is long forgotten.

I would recommend the “Goofy Challenge” to anyone that wants a fun race weekend!  A great way to kick off a new year of running, indeed!